Vendors such as restaurants, supermarkets, coffee shops and other third-party vendors presently use several methods for establishing temporary communication with patrons. For example, a patron may walk into a restaurant and there is a wait to sit down. In some cases, the restaurant may give the patron a pager so that the restaurant can notify the patron when the table is ready. Thus, the patron does not need to be confined to the waiting area but can go off somewhere else. Similarly, many supermarkets use a system at the deli counter where patrons take a ticket with a number from a dispenser and the deli counter serves patrons in the order of the ticket numbers. The deli counter may call out the number that it is currently being served and/or may display the number currently being served on an overhead display. As another example, a coffee shop or fast food restaurant may take a patron's name along with his or her order. The patron may then wait, usually within the establishment itself, until the order is ready. The restaurant or coffee shop may simply call out the patron's name indicating that his or her order is ready. In some instances the restaurant or coffee shop may use a loudspeaker system to inform patrons of their orders, thereby allowing patrons just a bit of mobility, i.e., without having to wait in front of a counter.
Each of the foregoing examples permits a certain level of mobility to the patron while he or she waits for the order or the table to become ready. However, all the examples still require a patron to remain in very close proximity to the vendor in order to maintain communication. Out of all of the above examples, the restaurant providing a pager may provide the greatest mobility to the patron while he or she waits. Still, most restaurants restrict the operable range of the pagers to within a few hundred feet, which can still be inconvenient for a patron facing a long wait. In addition, this still requires the restaurant to purchase and to maintain a system of many pagers.
Vendors such as restaurants, florists, coffee shops, bakeries, caterers, electronics retailers, and many others may also permit patrons to place orders in advance, such as by calling ahead, or submitting an order online or via facsimile, in order that the patrons do not have to wait for their food/merchandise to be prepared or brought out from a storage area. Nevertheless, in some instances a patron may demand an even greater level of preparedness on the part of the vendor. For example, the patron may change his or her schedule and decide they would like to take a meal or pick up merchandise earlier or later. Conversely, the vendor may be extremely busy and would prefer to prepare the patron's order at the last possible minute, while still having the order ready when the patron arrives. However, the established practice of calling ahead may not be adequate to handle such demands.